Natural environment training
Teaching skills during the learner's play and daily routines in natural settings, using materials the learner chooses and reinforcers that are part of the activity.
Natural environment training (NET), sometimes called natural environment teaching, moves instruction out of a structured table format and into play, meals, outings and other routines. The RBT follows the learner's motivation, joins the activity, and embeds targets from the plan, such as requests, labels, following directions, imitation and play skills, into it.
Reinforcers in NET are usually natural: they are part of the activity or follow directly from the response. Saying "push" gets a push on the swing; labeling "red car" keeps the car game going. The RBT may contrive motivation, for example by pausing a song or handing over a toy with a missing piece, so the learner has a reason to communicate.
NET supports generalization because the learner practices skills in the places, with the materials and with the people involved in real life. It is often used alongside discrete trial teaching: a skill may be introduced at the table and practiced in NET, or taught in NET from the start.
NET still requires planning and data. The RBT knows the targets in advance, delivers prompts as written, and records responses, even though the session looks like play.
Example and non-example
| Example | During outdoor play, the RBT pushes a client on the swing, stops, and waits. The client says "Push!" and the RBT pushes again. Later they practice labeling colors of chalk while drawing together. |
|---|---|
| Non-example | Running 20 trials of "Touch red" with color cards at a desk is discrete trial teaching, even if the cards show toys. |
Don't confuse it with
| Incidental teaching | Incidental teaching is one specific procedure that begins with the learner's initiation; NET is a broader approach to teaching in natural routines. |
|---|---|
| Discrete trial teaching | DTT uses teacher-chosen materials and structured trials; NET uses learner-chosen activities and natural reinforcers. |
Test yourself
-
Question 1In naturalistic teaching, what is a natural reinforcer?
Show answer
B: The usual, direct result of the response itself. A natural reinforcer is the usual outcome of the behavior in everyday life, such as getting the ball after asking for it. Using it helps the skill keep working outside of teaching sessions.
- A: Food can be natural or arbitrary; what matters is whether it is the direct result of the response.
- C: That describes noncontingent reinforcement.
- D: Tokens are conditioned reinforcers added to a task, not its natural result.
Task C.4 · 40-hour curriculum section E
-
Question 2During a real grocery trip, an RBT teaches an adult client to ask a store employee where an item is, as part of the client's actual shopping. Which teaching approach is this?
Show answer
A: Natural environment training. Natural environment training teaches skills where and when they are actually used, with the natural result (finding the item) as the reinforcer.
- B: DTT uses repeated, adult-led trials, usually in a structured setting, not one real request during shopping.
- C: Precision teaching focuses on building fluency with timed practice and charting.
- D: Backward chaining teaches the last step of a chain first; a single request is not a chained task.
Task C.4 · 40-hour curriculum section E
-
Question 3An RBT runs a mand program through natural environment training. What is the most useful thing to record?
Show answer
B: Every opportunity, and whether it was prompted. Naturalistic teaching still needs objective data. Recording every opportunity and the level of help lets the supervisor see whether the client is becoming independent.
- A: Recording only correct responses hides how many opportunities there were and how much help was needed.
- C: A general note does not give measurable data for the supervisor.
- D: Play time does not show how the target skill is progressing.
Task C.4 · 40-hour curriculum section E · 40-hour curriculum section C
Answer every question to see your score.
On the RBT exam
This term belongs to task C.4 Naturalistic teaching in content area C, Behavior Acquisition, which is 19 of the 75 scored questions.